History Resources

Statistics: The Growth of Cities

Urban Growth

Number of Cities 1860 1900
100,000-499,999 7 32
500,000 or more 2 6

 

Percent of Total Population 1860 1900
100,000-499,999 4% 8%
500,000 or more 4% 11%


Questions for Discussion

  1. What factors contributed to the growth of cities in the late nineteenth century?
  2. How does life in a very large city differ from that in smaller cities and towns?

 

Deaths per 100,000 - Boston, New York, New Orleans, and Philadelphia

Year / Cause of Death Tuberculosis Intestinal Disorders Diphtheria Typhoid Typhus Smallpox
1864-1888 365 299 123 66 53
1899-1913 223 196 58 19 25


Questions for Discussion

  1. Why were death rates so high in nineteenth-century cities?
  2. What factors contributed to a decline in urban death rates?

Concentration of Immigrant Groups in Cities, 1890

  Percent in Cities of 25,000 or more
Native-born Americans 18%
Chinese% 40%
Germans 48%
Irish 56%
Poles 57%
Russians 58%
Italians 59%


Questions to Think About

  1. Which groups of Americans were most likely to live in cities? least likely?
  2. What difference might it have made that native-born Americans were unlikely to live in large cities?